The Wayward Ones
by Storybored
Summary: One year after the Reach Invasion, Nightwing is still taking leave, taking care of Jason's grave, dating Kori, and trying to appear like a not traumatized 20 year old. When he gets a file from Catwoman the contents shake what little stable foundation he has left, what exactly happened in that five year gap? (Deals with Jason coming back as the Red Hood/Arkham Knight)
1. Chapter 1

Dick really tried to hate the kid, his replacement. Yeah, he was fired from being Robin and yeah since he was Nightwing he had no need for that moniker anymore but he couldn't help but feel betrayed when he saw the new Boy Wonder. Dick hated that the second he saw the new Robin in a dirty red hoodie that hung off of him, he wanted to take care of him. Black shaggy hair and glacier blue eyes that studied everything, a trait that would make Bruce proud. Dick quickly noticed that he would sit facing exits, wouldn't react well to sudden touches or movements, would hunch over his food and never turn anything down, even Alfred's waffles.

Jason grew on him, he had a temper that rivaled Connor's and a mouth that could make a sailor blush but he was untrained. He was Robin for the wrong reasons, Bruce didn't think he heard that conversation with Alfred so Dick tried to teach Jason, train him. He became easy buddies with Artemis and Zatanna, but preferred to be underfoot of Barbara, learning how to hack and wreak havoc on computers not just real people. Kaldur was impressed that if Jason was ever without gadgets he would find anything in arms reach to fight his opponents with a tire iron, a trash can lid, once another thug. Wally looked after Jason like a younger brother, they would try to out eat each other and Wally apparently wasn't jealous when 70 pound 4'10 Jason quickly packed on muscle and grew to be taller than him. M'gann and Jason avoided each other. They got along well enough, it was just alarming for Jason to know someone who could easily poke around in his brain. Connor would get offended by that and Jason would make sure to tell him where he could put his opinion. Garth and Jason would study together because Jason dropped out when he was 8 or so. Jason quickly caught up to his peers because of a sense of pride and determination.

Dick found April 27th to be hard for him. He remembered walking out of the Zeta tube joking with Koriand'r, after being off world. He remembers Dinah walking up to him and Barbara pulling them aside and telling them that Robin was dead, kidnapped and killed by the Joker. He remembers nearly collapsing on the ground in shock as Barbara stiffened and Dick tried not to cry at the fact that he had to bury his little brother. He remembers asking when the funeral was and Dinah replying that it already happened. That Bruce had buried Jason without letting Dick know, he actually collapsed after that his knees incapable of holding him up anymore. He crumpled on the ground and started sobbing, his brash stubborn baby brother was brutally murdered, beaten and blown up, left for dead. He died alone and Dick should've been there for him, or at the funeral, but he was alone. Bruce was alone and Bruce could have reached him but didn't, yeah they were locked in some sort of pissing contest again but tried to not have it interfere with his and Jason's relationship.

Dick came alone most it was too hard to accompany Bruce, Barbara and Alfred. Kori would join him very rarely, the times where he had to go but he struggled with the walk to his grave. Dick wished he could get used to the angelic headstone looming over his brother's body, it didn't feel like Jason, it felt like Bruce was trying to appeal to some cosmic overlord and make sure Jason got into heaven and didn't come back to haunt whoever spited him that week.

" _They buried me in a monkey suit. I get to spend all of eternity as an imposter."_

"And bury you in your shitty red hoodie?" Dick replied as he approached Jason's grave messing with the bouquet.

" _I liked that hoodie."_

"I think that was pa-" Dick trailed off when he saw Jason's grave desecrated. The angel spray painted with a red line going across her eyes, a line across her mouth to make it look like a macabre grin, the wings having red lines with dashes to make it look like bones. The robes sprayed red in some places to imitate blood, part of the epitaph underlined making it read," _Here lies Jason Peter Todd. My Partner, My Soldier,_ _My Fault._ _Rest in Peace."_

Dick noticed it must've been some sick cosmic joke as the ea was changed to an ie and there was a S added to the end of the word making it pieces. Dick locked his jaw and clenched his hands vaguely aware of the sound of snapping flower stems. He grabbed his phone but jumped when he felt a hand across his shoulder. He turned around and saw Selina looking at him concerned,"Dick, is everything okay?"

Dick's first instinct was to blame her, just have someone to pin this mess on, but she was important to Jason, so he looked down before jerking his head sharply back at the grave stone. Selina's grip tightened on the thick file and the robin toy she was holding,"No. It's not."

Selina studied the headstone,"Sick fucking bastards."

Dick shifted from foot to foot,"Do you think it was-?"

Selina shook her head,"He wouldn't make it this public, he doesn't care about the man behind the mask, he only cares about the big bad. Because of Jason and Bruce's reaction we're a little stricter about what happens to Robins. There was always an unspoken line with you guys, no one was supposed to cross it ever."

Dick nodded in understanding as she set the robin toy down at the angel's feet, along with the beat up bouquet,"What's with the file?"

Selina held it out to him,"Found it in my mailbox, addressed to you, and your little band of misfits."

Dick took the file weighing it in his hands, it was rather solid, He tucked it into his arms,"You know who sent it?"

Selina raised an eyebrow at him,"Kitten, if I knew I would tell you. But it's safe, no nasty surprises. Worst comes someone figured out your night job."

Dick nodded as Selina began to walk away, Dick flickered his eyes around, feeling someone watching him. He couldn't spot anybody but that didn't prevent the uneasiness settling into his stomach, like something awful was going to happen. He didn't think he would be capable of burying another friend or family member. He looked at the ruined grave and sighed shaking his head before walking back to his motorcycle.

Dick entered the Watchtower and began to head for the Young Justice base of operations, he saw Jaime, Gath and Bart discussing something by the bookshelf. He opened the file Selina gave him and saw several flash drives, a laptop that was scuffed and various papers contains the notes on tracking where the joker was and trying to make a pattern of his activities. He grabbed the first flash drive and hacked into it seeing a view of Jason's grave. He furrowed his brow and saw the ground collapse underneath the angel, the dirt shifted as a hand shot out of the ground followed by another as Jason pulled himself from his grave, occasionally stopping as he would cough from the pain and breathing in the dirt. Jason finally pulled himself out of the grave and curled up on himself and Dick was thankful for the lack of audio, he wouldn't be able to handle Jason's screams. He watched as Jason pushed himself onto his knees and began to wail. Something prompted him to stop as he pulled himself up to his feet and he began to limp out of the graveyard. Dick felt his eyes burn as he rewatched the clip trying to make sure that he did see Jason pulling him sell out of the grave. Dick glanced at the time stamp seeing that he pulled himself out almost 5 years ago and no one knew, no one began looking for him. Dick had been visiting an empty grave for years, and he didn't know.


	2. Chapter 2

Dick rubbed the tears out of his eyes as he finally stopped watching the surveillance footage. _"Can't he just catch a break? Hasn't he been through enough?"_ He clicked out of the surveillance footage knowing it would be burned into his brain forever, he clicked into hospital files for a John Doe matching Jason's description, and read the list of injuries and the doctor's notes," _Buried and dug himself out, beaten with metal pipe of some sort, cracked skull, broken sternum, collapsed lung, various other fractures, burned, large laceration possible nerve damage if he survives. Probable brain damage. Incision that looks to be from an autopsy."_ Dick wanted to throw up when he finished he finished reading and seeing the photos containing what happened to his brother. He took a sharp breath and tried not to start crying in front of the kids. Dick took a shaky breath and continued reading where the file picked up, a year later, listing "John" as partially catatonic and then listing how he was released onto the streets because he had no known relatives. The last file was of Jason's autopsy, showing in detail what the joker did to him, Dick clenched his hand and continued reading, " _Cause of Death is undetermined, Mr. Todd has sustained too many injuries to tell what is antemortem and what has occurred postmortem. I am currently unable to tell whether Mr. Todd died of asphyxiation due to the collapsed lung and blood in his lungs and throat, smoke inhalation, blunt force trauma or shock."_

Dick couldn't help the choked noise that escaped his throat as he buried his head in his hand and his body had been wracked with shudders, his little brother was brutally murdered and then pulled himself out of his grave and then spent a year alone in a coma at Gotham Memorial Hospital, _'He was so close and I didn't even know it. What kind of brother am I?'_

Dick felt the couch dip to his left and felt Gar rest his head on his arm,"Nightwing is everything alright? Are you back from your leave?"

Dick took a deep breath,"No, not permanently, just something came up. Are Batman and Oracle on board?"

Jaime nodded,"Yeah I just saw them they're in the control room. Why?"

Nightwing shut the laptop and placed it back into the folder,"I think I found us a mission."

Bart went to ask more questions but was elbowed by Jaime when he say the rigid posture and heard the rattling breaths that Nightwing was taking, he might snap at them and no one's quite sure why he would, he was the most upbeat of them constantly smiling no matter how bad things get, but after Wally the smiles came less and were more strained.

The younger boys trailed after Nightwing as he made his way into the computer room and put the file down in front of Oracle and Batman. Batman picked up the file and began to flip through the papers,"Nightwing, what is this?"

"Selina had it mailed to her. She gave it to me when I saw Jason's desecrated grave." Nightwing said as Oracle began to pull up the footage,"Funny thing is that if the file is to be believed, Jason's alive and pulled himself out of his grave."

Batman sighed,"Did it occur to you-"

"That the footage is tampered with? Several times, but that isn't something you can fake. I know my brother." Nightwing replied staring Bruce down,"Oracle check the footage from 5 years ago, late October. The surveillance from Jason's grave site."

Oracle queued up the footage,"Any specific date?"

NIghtwing took a deep breathe,"October 30th, around 2 to 3 am."

Oracle ran though outdated information and found the date Nightwing asked for and began to speed through to the right time, Oracle rewinded after seeing something shift on the screen, the ground collapsing inward, and a bloody hand shoving its way out. Oracle sucked in a breath as the younger kids leaned forward to see what had Oracle and Batman tense. Nightwing wasn't staring at the screen he couldn't. He heard Oracle's sad whisper of ' _Jason'_ and Batman's barely there growl of disapproval. Nightwing saw Oracle turn to him,"Nightwing, do we know where he is?"

Nightwing shook his head and cleared his throat, his voice hoarse,"No, but he spent a year in Gotham Memorial for a year until he woke up from his coma and was released. I don't expect to find him quite yet. He probably went back to Park Row. I'll keep looking. What are you guys doing?"

Batman's voice was his typical growl but Nightwing knew he was shaken up by the video,"Tracking this crime lord calls himself the Red Hood, kills his competition and seems to be pretty tough on the dealers in Gotham, if they sell to kids, he puts them down."

"Wasn't the Hood Joker's old moniker?" NIghtwing asked vaguely remember seeing photos of a guy in a red dome with a tuxedo and a cape.

"Yeah, so this new guy can't be good news, but he seems to sporadically appear going on a "Vigilante" spree last night. Stopping the crimes by killing them." Oracle added clicking out of the video,"Nightwing did you look in depth at the file?"

"No I watch the surveillance video and read the hospital records and autopsy report." Nightwing asked leaning over to pass the file to Oracle who began to root through the papers looking for something, she held up a flash drive triumphantly and hacked in much faster than Dick was capable of.

Oracle was muttering under her breath,"Thinks he's so smart, I taught him everything he knows, little punk."

A video came up of an older Jason, with a large streak of white in the front of his hair, scars across his face and dark bags under his eyes. He seemed like he was waiting for something to happen. He took a deep breath and started to speak," _My name is Jason Peter Todd, and if you're seeing this something went seriously wrong. Best case scenario I'm dead…. again. "Jason cracked a grin at this, before sobering back up,"Worse case I'm in the same situation as Ethiopia but way worse. Batsy ain't coming for me because he doesn't know I'm back, at least when this was recorded. WHo knows maybe I get my revenge and kill the Bat for not avenging me, for allowing him to cripple my sister, for replacing me. For allowing that death worshipping pile of garbAGE TO KEEP CARRYING ON LIKE-"_

 _Jason's eyes seemed frenzied at this before he took a deep breath,"Breath, Jason, Breath. Anyway, where was I? Oh right Ethopia. If I'm not dead I'm going to be in over my head and Joker won't kill me for ruining his joke….. He's going to do something….. So….. much...worse."_

 _Jason shook his head before glancing at the camera,"Dickiebird, what I'm trying to say is I know I don't deserve your help and unless you're seeing this I sure as hell don't need it. BG, I'm sorry for not helping you out. For not killing him earlier. It's my fault."_

 _Jason leaned forward to shut off the camera when it off screen voice spoke asking about the file,"Oh right before I go, the file that Arsenal was so kind to send to Catmom has all my notes about the joke. The program I used for my trackers and the information about what happened to me after I came back. I'm not a clone, and I don't have one. Unlike some people."_

 _That earned an indignant sound from whoever was off screen causing Jason to grin one of his famous slasher smiles as he leaned forward and shut the camera back off._

Oracle turned to Batman and Nightwing,"We have to find him."

Batman glanced down at Oracle,"Where would we start?"

"His grave, in the last week or so. And tracking down Arsenal. A 23 year old with a cybernetic hand can't be hard to track."

Batman put a hand on Nightwing's shoulder,"Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Nightwing. We'll look for more evidence and keep you updated."

Nightwing squared his jaw and nodded in understanding, before excusing himself being trailed by Gar, Bart and Jaime. Bart spoke first breaking the tense silence,"So who was that?"

"Jason, he was the second Robin, the Robin after me." Nightwing said his voice uneven.

Jaime spoke ignoring the way Gar wrapped Nightwing in a one armed hug,"What happened to him?"

"He was murdered by the Joker and I guess something brought him back to life."

"Why has he only told you about coming back now?" Gar asked looking up at Nightwing.

"That's Jason for you, he doesn't know how to ask for help like a normal person. It's just how he was raised. He's from Park Row. Batman met him after he stole the tires off of the Batmobile. Maybe seeing Batman with the new Robin proved to be too much for him and so he didn't want to contact any of us. Jason always thought he was replaceable to a certain extent." Nightwing put an arm around Gar's shoulder,"I got to get back to Earth. This isn't something the three of you should concern yourselves with, anyways."

Nightwing left the three of them standing in the hallway confused as he walked back to the zeta beam so he could head home to Blüdhaven, and track down Arsenal by himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason knew his mistake as he was making it, he just needed the money. Willis died a few years back and Mom ODed when he was 8. He was so hungry and the car was right there. For world's greatest detective he was an idiot and Jason was broke. He needed the money stealing the parts would get him. He heard someone clear their throat as he saw Batman's shadow loom over him causing him to swear quietly,"Fuck."

Batman stood over him as Jason turned tightening his grip on the tire iron,"You do realize this is the Batmobile."

Jason knew what he was about to say was crazy,"Duh. You do realize that you parked your car in Crime Alley? Right?"

Jason swung the tire iron at Batman who caught it and and easily lifted him up, Jason glared defiantly at Batman who had him at eye level,"You want to beat up a kid, go enlist the G.C.P.D like every other bully in this city."

Batman pulled him closer causing Jason to consider slipping out of his hoodie, but he didn't because it was the only warmth he had,"I'm only going to ask you this once. So give some serious thought to your answer."

Jason snapped at him,"What?!"

"Are you hungry?" Batman asked but before Jason could respond his stomach growled loudly. Jason looked away as Batman set him down and pointed to the passenger seat sounding smug,"Put the tire back on and get in, unless you're not hungry."

Jason started to mumbled under his breath irritatedly as he began to put the tire back on,"Como voy a rechazar comida gratis, cabrón loco."

Batman looked at the kid,"What's your name kid?"

Jason stood up and glanced at the tire iron in his hand,"Why should I tell you? You gonna fink to the cops, or worse, the social workers."

"I'm not going to fink but I can't keep calling you kid can I?" Batman said looking at Jason as the Batmobile's doors opened up.

Jason's eyes widened at the doors opening upward, whistling in appreciation,"Damn, she custom made?"

Batman nodded,"Something like that. You going to get in?"

Jason hopped onto the wheel and peeked into the car, his height from constant malnutrition making him look like a kid no older than 10 or 11. He slipped into the passenger seat, carefully watching Batman hop into it with practiced ease. He looked at the dash in wonder which made Batman want to introduce the kid to Lucius,"It's Jason, Jason Todd."

Jason winced as Batman took a sharp turn slamming him into the door onto bruised ribs and agravating injuries he'd gotten from a couple of territory fights. Batman spared him a worried glancing causing Jason to grit his teeth and look out the passenger window as they pulled up to a restraunt with an R pasted to the window. One of the waitresses came out with a bag of food and Batman paid for it. Jason squinted at him wondering when exactly he placed the order and shoved himself against the door. Batman put the bag of food on the console. Batmasn drove him to a hilly area that overlooked Gotham and sat on the hood of the car. Jason quietly slid out of the car his hand still gripping the tire iron. He set it next to him as he dug into the bag of food next to him shoveling into his mouth in a frenzy that made Batman worry over the loss of fingers.

"Slow down, Jason. You're going to lose a finger."

Jason didn't stop shoveling the food into his mouth but slowed down enough to reply to Batman,"Sorry… This is the closest I had to a home-cooked meal since…... I had a home. Funny. I was here once. Looking for Wayne Manor. Trying to case the place but got lost."

Bruce looked at the orphan sitting next to him, no longer eating but playing with the tire iron like a kid would play with a comfort object. Cementing to both Bruce and Batman that this was just a kid, a kid who had to grow up way too soon,"Why do you think it's okay to steal things from people?"

Jason scoffed and spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world,"You kidding me? Look at this view. Freaking "billionaire playboy" thinks he's king of the world. Pfft."

Jason continued to eat as Batman carried on at this beaten down kid,"Sometimes you have to give people a chance Jason. They'll usually surprise you."

Jason's eyes hardened, and he made a noise of disbelief," That's rich, they haven't so far."

"Jason what did you mean by when you had a home?"

Jason looked down to Gotham like he was trying to spot Park Row amid the skyscrapers,"Dad got killed in jail and Mom got sick. Why do you care?"

"Because everyone is my responsibility." Jason seemed to examine the answer as Batman spoke again," You winced when we took a hard turn back there. WHy?"

"For a detective you asked a lot of dumb questions." Jason replied slipping an arm across his mildly throbbing ribs,"I probably cracked 'em. Tire iron ain't just for ripping off car parts ya' know. Nothing Leslie can't fix…. Again."

"So, Bats, you've asked questions my turn." Jason said as Batman prepared for the inevitable who are you,"Who bankrolls your gig? GCPD is broke as shit and half the big bags in the Alley have their hands in various GCPD pockets. Old Commish was corrupt to an extent. Gordon's clean as far as I can tell. Probably wants to set a good example for his kid, God knows that's gonna get him killed faster than the job THe face of the good guys of the PD way to paint a target on your back, Commish. God knows the rich bastards that sit above us don't come down from their ivory towers enough to see how real people live."

Batman slid off the hood of the Batmobile,"Come on, Jason. I'm gonna take you somewhere until your ribs heal."

"Social worker or cop?"  
"Neither."

Jason looked at Batman betting back into the car and begrudgingly followed him wondering what in the hell kind of people Batman hang out with. Jason wedged himself against the door and the seat while he surveyed the road they were going down and trying to orient himself. Jason tightened his grip on his tire iron as he pulled up into a gated driveway that had a big W across it. The gates swung open and Jason felt like something bad was going to happen to him again. The Batmobile pulled in front of the main door and an old man opened the door, Batman opened up the top of the batmobile so they could climb out. Jason climbed out but stayed close to the Batmobile as Batman talked to the old man and gestured from him to follow him. Jason stayed behind Batman.

"Alfred, this is Jason. Jason, Alfred."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Master Jason." Alfred said looking at the scrawny boy.

Jason couldn't help what slipped out of his mouth but was glad that it slipped out in SPanish, maybe saving him from a beating,"Que carajos?"

Batman spoke as Jason stared into the foyer of the manor,"You'll be staying with Bruce and his son Richard until your ribs heal, Jason."

"And if I don't?" Jason asked.

"I can't force you to stay but you must've been pretty desperate to steal the wheels off the batmobile."

"That's a stupid name for a car." Jason remarked dryly and Alfred smiled down at him.

"I think you'll fit in wonderful, Master Jason." Alfred said as Jason walked into the Manor leaving Batman standing amused on the pouch. THe audio recievers in his cowl picked up Jason's comments.

"You gotta call me that?"

"It's proper etiquette."

"Do I look like I give a shit about proper etiquette."

"If you stole the wheels off the batmobile you clearly don't care about a lot of things." ALfred responded with dryly.

"Did you just call me stupid?"

"No, I implied that you were suicidal."

"Fair enough, Alfred, Fair enough."

 _ **(Line break)**_

Dick looked at Alfred and the boy dressed in loose pants and one of Dick's old shirts. The kid looked up at him and tried to shrink back into the chair. Dick reached for the omelet. ALfred looked up at him,"Master Dick, this is Master Jason. He will be staying with us permanently."

Jason looked up at Alfred shock evident on his face,"What?"

Dick seemed to accept it,"You either grew on Alfred or worse Bruce. Welcome to my boat."

Jason stared at Dick very carefully,"...what?"

Dick looked at Jason, as Bruce came downstairs and sat at the table,"Jason, I see you've met Dick."

Dick noticed as Jason watched Bruce carefully,"Yeah…."

Jason watched as Bruce and Dick got into a quiet argument that he couldn't overhear, which ended with Dick grinning triumphantly and Bruce scowling,"Guess I'm going to help you with your Robin training, Little Wing."

Jason scowled at the nickname which made Dick laugh,"Don' call me that."

"Oh we're going to get along fantastically."

Jason glared at Dick from across the table causing the older boy to laugh and the glare to deepen.

 _ **(Line break)**_

Jason entered Barbara's apartment and glanced around carefully. Looking for exits if necessary, Barbara looked at him studiously,"Jason? Bruce says I'm supposed to help socialize you and help you with your homework."

"I don' need help. I made it this far without anybody. I don' need help from nobody. 'Specially the Commish's kid." Jason pulled away from her and looked up with defiant blue green eyes,"I ain't anybody's charity case."

"Never said you were, do you just want to sit and eat something? I made lemon chicken and pasta." Barbara stood out of the way allowing him to walk into the apartment and try and relax,"Come on, sit down in the living room we'll eat and see what you need to work on."

Jason followed her to the couch and sat with a comfortable distance between them as Barbara pulled out an English textbook.

 _ **(Line break)**_

Jason just needed to hold out a little longer. Just keep lying to himself and not cry out, not give the Joker the satisfaction of hearing him scream. A particularly hard strike earned some coughed up blood. He tried to sit up, if the Joker was going to kill him he'd have to look him in the eye. The upswing of the crowbar caught him in the chin sending him back down to the floor causing him to cough,"Now that sounded like it really hurt."

Jason took more hits with the crowbar exhaling every time it connected. He rolled over to try and clear up his lungs, not impede his breathing anymore than possible,"Wait a moment that looked like it hurt a lot more. Now tell me, what hurts A? Or B? Forehand? Or backhand?"

Jason rolled over and gagged, whispering,"Gonna kick yer pasty white ass."

Joker leaned close to him,"Eh, eh, eh. A little louder lamb chop. I think you may have a collapsed lung, that always impedes the oratory."

Jason tasted coppery fluid in his mouth and spat it on Joker's face, Joker smashed his face into concrete,"That was rude, at least the first Boy blunder had some manners."

Jason grinned at him through blood stained teeth,"I suppose I'm going to have to teach you a lesson in manners to better follow in his footsteps…. Nah, I'm going to just keep beating you with this crowbar."

Jason bit his lip to prevent from crying out, his eye starting to swell shut. He squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for more beatings to rain down. ' _He'll come. You're going to get a hell of a lecture. But he'll come. Bruce will come.'_

A particularly hard swing came down on his leg snapping the bone as Joker stood up and acknowledged his handiwork and began to head toward the door, Jason's vision started to blur as he watched the purple figure retreat,"Okay, kiddo, I've got to go but it's been fun though, right? Well, maybe a smidge more fun for me than you. I'm just guessing because you're being awful quiet. Anyway be a good boy, finish your homework and be in bed by nine. And, Hey! Please tell the big man I said hello."

Jason looked up as the door slammed shut and Jason rolled back trying not to cryout from pain as he moved his arms in front of him. Pain radiated from everywhere,' _Outside, get outside. It's cold. Relief. Batman is coming._ ' Jason cried out when he fell face first onto the ground the shock jarring his whole body. He pulled himself up onto his elbows and began to drag himself to the door ignoring the pain by focusing on getting out of the warehouse. He reached the door and pulled on the handle heading it jiggle because it was locked from the outside. If Jason wasn't already beat to hell, he would have broken one of the windows and gotten out, but he was just so sore and tired. He'll just wait for Bruce to come. Jason pushed himself against the door and heard the beeping of the bomb, he couldn't tell how much time but Jason knew he was going to die. Alone and in pain,' _Karma is bitch, Jason. You got Bruce and Dick and Babs, but you had to go fuck it up. Smooth, you don't deserve to be Robin.'_

Jason squeezed his eyes shut as the clock counted down," 'ruce. 'M sorry."

Jason took a deep breath as the clock finished counting down and the bomb ignited.

 _ **(Line break)**_

Jason woke up in a dark box with a gasp screaming in pain, his lungs burning for fresh air. He wanted his dad, where was he? Where was Bruce? " _It hurts so bad. Where am I? Bruce?"_

Jason's body started to burn and ache knocking the air out of him. He reached his hands forward and felt silk fabric beneath his fingers and tried to shove the top off of whatever box he was, he couldn't it was too heavy. His hands fumbled to his belt,"Gotta….Gotta dig."

Jason ripped the buckle off his belt and started to scrape at it,"Dig your way out, Todd. You aren't gonna die here."

When the buckle stopped working he began to scrape at the lid with his fingers, not caring about the added pain or how much it hurt afterword. He felt something begin to spill on his lap and touched it the stale coffin air becoming mustier and wet," _Dirt. Wet. Coffin? Explosion. Joker. I died?"_

Jason broke the coffin lid and began to pull himself out of it to the top soil," _Fresh air. Fresh air. Not dead. Not dead."_

Jason reached the soil and screamed because of the pain, he stood up his legs screaming in pain because of the broken bones but Jason ignored it to find someone who could help," _Selina, Leslie, Bruce. Find them. Ignore the pain. March. Selina, Leslie, Bruce. Find Bruce. He'll know what to do."_

 _ **(Line break)**_

" _Wakey, wakey."_

" _Oh, fuck off."_


	4. Chapter 4

_**(So there is torture in this chapter because I'm the last one Jason was woken up by the joker. It happens after Kori and Dick's scene. descriptions of waterboarding, electrocution and bludgeoning.)**_

Bruce stood in front of his son's grave with Clark. Obvious was the attempt by Dick, probably, to remove the marks of desecration on Jason's grave. Clark put a hand on Bruce's shoulder,"Are you sure about this Bruce?"

Bruce looked at the Robin cat toy at the door of the grave, above a slightly beat up bouquet,"Selina was here."

Clark looked at Bruce confused,"Who?"

"Selina Kyle, Catwoman. We dated while Jason was under my care. Jason and Selina come from similar backgrounds and Jason came to view her as a mother. A proper one." Bruce said thinking of how Bruce and Jason spent more time together but their bond would never be as strong as Jason and Selina's.

Clark nodded remembering seeing her at some of the Wayne galas he covered,"You never answered my question, Bruce."

Bruce clenched his fists,"I wouldn't ask if there was any other way. Clark, you didn't see his face. Dick needs to believe this is Jason. That that video wasn't some big joke. He needs to believe in something like his dead brother coming back is possible. He's already lost so much."

Clark nodded as he slid his glasses forward and looked into the plot seeing an empty coffin with a broken lid and dirt spilling into it, there was a discarded belt with a ripped off a buckle a little farther down,"It was Jason. The coffin is empty."

"Someone broke in?" Bruce asked as Clark fixed his glasses.

"No, he broke out. There's dirt in the coffin and a discarded belt with its buckle broken off. The lid has a hole in it where he climbed out not triggering the sensors."

Bruce sucked in a breath, realizing that his son was alive, he was angry with him, and that Jason was back in the hands with that mad man and he wasn't expecting anyone to come and save him,"Thank you, Clark."

Clark went to reassuringly touch Bruce's shoulder but thought better of it,"Anytime, Bruce."

 _ **(This one isn't sticking to one point of view and this time is because I'm writing on my phone.)**_

Dick hated double shifts. 16 hours in a uniform and 8 in the suit. His partner commented that he was out of it, so he responded that someone desecrated his little brother's grave. His partner just pat his shoulder reassuringly and offered her condolences, she wasn't a corrupt cop but she had a family to worry about so she couldn't be anything like Jim Gordon, something he knew she regretted. Dick walked into his apartment and headed straight to the bedroom, seeing Kori in her robe and collapsing on the bed as he loosened his tie.

"If you work a double, maybe you should ask for help on patrol?"

Dick kicked off his shoes, his voice muffled through the comforter,"Batman doesn't need help."

Kori put her hand on his back as he shifted curling around her trying to draw some of her warmth,"Batman has you and Robin, and Catwoman on occasion. You work Blüdhaven alone because I'm busy with the titans, and don't try and deny that this week hasn't been hard for you."

Dick nodded in understanding, sitting up to shrug off his button up. Kori helped him noticing the way he seemed to be falling asleep while talking to her,"You're right. Are you working tonight?"

"Unless I'm called in. I'm yours."

Dick smiled sleepily,"First imma sleep. Second we go to dinner or somethin'. Night Kor."

Dick was completely asleep but was latched on to Kori preventing her from moving from the bed. She watched as Dick nestled his head into her shoulder and brushed some of the hair out of his face,"Night, Dick."

She got a sleepy noise in response and grabbed her phone, rereading _Lord of the Flies_ , she liked the book and the protagonist, sure it was a little slow at points but overall it was a good book. She didn't understand why Dick didn't like it, why he would skip the first several chapters until the groups have splintered off and were beginning to dissolve into anarchy. She made it to the part where the savages set the island on fire when Dick began to stir, he rolled away from her and began to stretch contorting his body into positions that would be unnatural for anybody else.

He crinkled his nose,"Kori, why didn't you tell me I smell?"

Kori grinned at him,"I didn't notice."

Dick dropped back into bed and held his hand over his heart,"You wound me. I'm gonna go shower, think about what we want to do tonight."

Kori watched as Dick shrugged out of his clothing and headed to the shower,"Can we go Ice skating?"

Dick spoke over the shower,"Can you ice skate?"

"You could teach me, it's gonna be so much fun." Kori said excited.

Dick grinned as Kori joined him in the shower,"Princess."

"Officer Grayson. It's not polite to use all the hot water." Kori responded her voice official.

"We're sharing." Dick said his voice teasing.

 _ **(Line break.)**_

Dick smiled as Kori spun around on the skates, she picked it up rather quickly, and he was glad she was trying to take his mind off Jason. Bruce didn't want him to look until he was sure that Jason was actually Jason and not Clayface or someone else messing with him. He pushed himself off the wall and grabbed her hand turning so he could face her. Kori laughed causing Dick's grin to widen.

"This is so much fun, I can't believe I've never done this before." Kori said as some people stared at them with envy. Dick saw some of the guys who got elbowed by their girlfriends as they stared too long at Kori, and Dick noticed that some of the girls were trying to have their boyfriends get them to spin them.

"We'll do it again, I promise." Dick said as his phone rang and he pushed himself to the nearest wall followed by Kori. He pulled out his phone and saw that the caller id said Bruce,"Bruce?"

" _Dick, it was Jason on the videos. I went to his grave this afternoon, and it's empty. From what Clark told me it looks like he broke out. He used his belt buckle to weaken the lid then clawed his way out."_

"So what do we do?"

" _Come back to Gotham, we'll poor over the information there."_

"Bruce, he mentioned about working with the original Roy Harper. Any leads?"

" _Barbara found information that he was in Gotham last Saturday. She's still looking."_

"Alright, I'm on my way."

Kori looked down at Dick worryingly,"Is everything okay?"

Dick shook his head his voice quiet enough for only Kori to hear,"Far from it. It was Jason on the clips. God, Kor, shouldn't I have known?"

Kori rubbed his arms reassuringly,"You couldn't have known. No one could have known. Let's go back home."

Dick allowed her to lead him off the rink as he began to try and figure out how Jason in a vegetative state because of brain damage could be capable of speaking and such methodical not taking,"I have to go to Gotham."

Kori looked at him,"You're in no shape to drive. I'll take you."

Dick put his head on her shoulder as she walked him back home. She didn't remark about how Dick was shaking despite it being 40 degrees and they were both bundled up, and warm from skating around the rink. Kori wrapped an arm around his waist and he draped his left arm over her,"I don't deserve you, Kori."

"It's not about deserve, it's about emotions, feelings. You maybe the son of an emotional block of ice but you don't need to deserve me, you need to just have feelings with me." Kori said with a reassuring squeeze.

 _ **(Line break)**_

Jason tried to take a deep breath as he felt the water poured over his face, the cloth over his face was impeding his breathing causing his chest to heave. Hearing Harley's evil childish laugh made him tug on the restraints and hiss, as someone brought down a cattle prod on his bare stomach. Jason clenched his teeth as the tremors racked his body, he flinched from the light as the cloth was removed from his face and he sucked in the air he was deprived of. He saw Harley and Joker standing over him,"And I thought we reached an agreement last time, Robin- Oh wait that name doesn't belong to you any more does it?"

Jason glared at the Joker as he touched his cheek with a crowbar,"You remember this don't you hood? How about we get you reacquainted?"

Jason tried not to cry out when the first swing came down on an already broken ankle. Joke proceed to keep swing with the thoroughness that one would tenderize meat with. He couldn't curl up on himself as he was tied to a wheelchair. Jason kept jerking at the restraints and not crying out. Joker stopped and began to leave with Harley trailing after him like a puppy.

Jason couldn't help the comment that came out of his sore throat,"Hey Quinn, thanks for the shower."

Harley looked like she wanted to shoot him as he smiled mockingly at her. The door slammed shut allowing Jason to struggle against the restraints. _"Rope on the hands, barbed wire on the chest. Whatcha gonna do now Todd? No guarantee Arsenal sent it to Catmom, Batman would lock you up in here as soon as he got a chance. You weren't important enough to avenge, easily replaced. Dick's got his own team and his friends. No place for you anymore."_

Jason grit his teeth,"Shut up."

" _No, see there's the flaw in your logic Todd. Your own goddamned parents didn't want you why would anyone want you? You're on your own, kiddo, now use that goddamned brain that got you out of a hospital and a coffin and get out of this shit pit. You're on your own just like always. But rest for now, Todd, you won't be able to get yourself out if you aren't well rest, and bright side, you've slept in worse places."_

 _ **(Line break)**_

Arsenal bolted across Gotham's rooftops not glancing back to see if he was still being followed, Nightwing didn't give up, and the bat was on his ass with the 3rd boy wonder,' _Roy, he's smart but sheltered you get him in Park Row. In an element you can blend in and they lose you.'_

Nightwing tackled him,"Roy, stop struggling."

Arsenal tried to squirm out from under Nightwing,"No, I'm not going back."

Nightwing rolled off of him,"It's not about you, it's about Jason. He's missing."

Arsenal picked himself up off the roof,"I know I sent the file to his mom. He's been missing for a month, the little present he put at his grave wasn't meant for you. It was for Batman."

"I figured after I saw his video. What happened?" Nightwing sat down as Arsenal paced and Batman and Robin arrived on scene.

"He was pissed that Batman hadn't killed the Joker so he set off to do it himself. I told him to wait and not go after the joker but he started to mumble about something and he went to his room so I let it go. We recorded the video for an emergency not him disappearing after a week, with just a file left on his bed."

Batman approached Arsenal,"And you let him?"

Arsenal scowled at Batman,"I didn't let him do anything. After he came back to life, he spent half a year in a coma, and a year on the streets before Thalia Al Ghul heard about him and brought him to her father's compound, a half brain dead warrior who operates on muscle memory. So Talia dunked him in the pit said something to him and he bolted back here to Gotham. He saw Batman and his new sidekick locking up the Joker and it proved too much. He went off the deep end and Talia helped bring him back, train him. Try to steer the curse she brought onto this world in the right direction."

Nightwing stood up,"Do you know where we could find him?"

Arsenal held up his hands,"He Just up and disappeared, I don't know if he's in Gotham still."

Batman looked at Arsenal,"You're free to go."

Arsenal nodded and easily slipped across the fire escape and into one of the alleys. Robin looked between the two of them,"We're back at square one."

Batman made an acknowledging sound as Nightwing brought up the rear quietly.


	5. Interlude 1

_**This takes place maybe late September of 2016. Chapters that are titled interlude are set before the story starts I'll try to date them but I may forget  
**_

Amelia couldn't resist honking the horn as she saw Dick sleeping with his head against the window, she laughed when she saw him jerk awake his bright blue eyes looking at her betrayed,"Why?"

Amelia slid into the driver's seat as Dick ran a hand through her hair,"Long day, kiddo?"

Dick nodded as they started to go on patrol, "Visiting some old high school friends, hanging out with my younger brother. Visiting Jason's grave."

Amelia looked at Dick who seemed to be staring out the window wistfully,"How'd he die?"

Dick looked at his shoes,"You know how I'm from Gotham and who my Dad is?"

Amelia nodded, meeting Bruce once when he was dropping Tim off at the station,"Yes?"

"Jason was murdered by the Joker, Bruce complied with his demands but he killed him anyway. He wasn't even 16." Dick said his voice soft,"This is going to sound several kinds of messed up but I'm glad he wasn't here to see that Reach invasion."

"Why?" Amelia asked knowing that Dick was the most optimistic and empathetic cop on the force opening himself up to teasing by the other officers.

"He was a street kid, someone unknown coming onto his turf?" Dick laughed humorlessly,"Would've marched his butt to the United Nations and took out the Ambassador's knees with a crowbar. Kid was an angry brat, but he was my angry brat."

"Smart kid, Jules is a Justice League Kid, born and raised. Thought they wouldn't abandon us without a big reason. His favorite hero isn't even in the Justice league. Last night his dad and I found him heading down to the docks to meet Nightwing."

Dick smiled at that,"How far he get?"

Amelia scowled at him,"Farther than I'd like to admit, but we live close to the docks so, I mean."

"Jason once hold up on Arkham, just to prove a point to me. God knows what that point was." Dick said as Amelia looked at him shocked.

"Your little brother hold up on Arkham to prove a point? Kid was insane. You couldn't get me to set foot on the island even if you paid me. Tell me about Tim."

"Far too serious for his own good, smart enough to make me feel stupid just talking to him some days, knows when to joke. Far more like Bruce than anyone who isn't he blood child should be." Dick said thinking of Tim who was more like him then Dick would like to acknowledge but the similarities were hidden under Tim's introverted personality.

" _Hey Ashford, Grayson you read?"_

Dick answered the radio,"Yeah, what's up Smith?"

" _Drunk and disorderly bunch of bachelorettes at the new club, Rogue, Have fun. Don't worry, I'm sending Bullock and Reynolds to help with the overflow."_

"10-4, we're a couple minutes away."

Amelia began to drive the car to the club seeing the gaggle of girls clinging to each other and yelling obscenities at whoever passed but happened to ignore them. The girls saw Dick and whistled, one of them took one look at him and yelled,"I thought we said no strippers, Isabelle's husband is going to kill her.

That elicited loud giggles from all but the sober one who was trying and failing to wrangler her friends,"No, he won't and I'm pretty sure he's actually a cop."

Dick and Amelia pulled their badges out of their pockets,"Bludhaven police."

One of the girls clad in a pink sparkly dress stumbled and Dick caught her holding her by her elbows to steady her. The sober friend had two of the girls clinging to her as Amelia began to explain that they were being arrested for drunk and disorderly. Dick smelled the alcohol on her and had to resist the urge of crinkling his nose in disgust. She began to play with his lapel,"Miss, Officer Ashford explain that because you're drunk in public you have to spend the night in jail and cool off."

The girl in the sparkly dress jerked her head to the sober one,"But she's getting married in three days."

Amelia was herding one of the drunk woman into the car,"I assure you you'll be out in time for her wedding."

The sober one, Isabelle, looked upset as Dick got the pink clad girl in handcuffs next to two of her friends and rolled down the window so they could get some fresh air,"He's such a pretty party pooper."

Isabelle looked apologetic as she held two of her friends upright. Amelia sat on the trunk of the car as they waited for Bullock and Reynolds to show up,"Officer I'm sorry for them. I didn't even want this party but my fiance's sister, the girl in the pink dress decided to throw it without even asking me and so somehow I got roped into playing an ineffective designated driver to these girls."

Dick smiled reassuringly at her,"I'm sure my colleagues will be willing to give you a ride back to the station, if you ask nicely. "

Isabelle returned his smile a little awkwardly,"Thank you, Officer Grayson."

"Not a problem, Miss." Dick said as he went to stand by Amelia ignoring the hoots from inside the car. Harvey and Reynolds clambered out of the car and arrested the two other girls and gave Isabelle a ride back to the station as Amelia and Dick collected the statements from the bouncer and the bartender who called in the complaint. As they headed back to the car Amelia elbowed him,"You do realize this is the second time in a consecutive shift that you've been hit on."

Dick dropped his head, pretending to be ashamed,"Yes, what will my poor girlfriend say?"

Amelia smiled at the thought of Kori who was so protective of Dick,"She'll probably make you wear a shirt that says property of Kori on it."

Dick nodded in agreement,"She takes my clothing all the time. Half our block knows she's dating a cop that went to Gotham academy."

Amelia and dick laughed as they got in the car, causing the girls to change the subject back to Dick, giving Amelia ammunitions to playfully mock him later,"So, _Officer,_ are you dating anyone?"

"Yes, for a while now, at least for me."

Amelia jerked her hand toward him,"With him that means about a month."

Dick made a wounded noise," It's been a year, Thank you."

The girl to the left of the girl in the pink pouted,"Oh come on, she doesn't need to know."

The girl in the pink agreed,"Come on you're too pretty to keep to one woman."

Dick sighed and resigned himself to being teased by his partner and hit on by the girls who were sitting in the back seat. The girl behind Dick pouted,"I doubt she's pretty."

Amelia shot Dick a sideways glance,"Isn't she picking you up for breakfast after you get off this shift."

Dick nodded as they pulled into the precinct and began to pull the girls out of the back seat so they could be processed and put in the drunk tank. Giving Dick and Amelia time to write the report and debrief before having to punch out. Dick put two of the girls in the cell with their friends as Isabelle sat outside of the cell talking on the cell phone, trying to get a ride back home.

Dick sat in his desk across from Amelia and began to fill out the paperwork. He easily hacked through the menial paperwork because it wasn't dissimilar from what he'd do after missions with Kaldur. Dick felt extremely warm arms wrap around him and red hair fill his vision,"Hey, Kori."

"Breakfast."

"After I finished this report. I promise I didn't forget to eat." Dick said as Kori sat on the desk her white sweater dress contrasting nicely with her red hair and golden skin.

Kori didn't look impressed,"Last time you said that I found you passed out on my couch."

Dick flushed at that,"Point, Kori."

"What point?" Kori asked cocking her head.

"It means like point to you, like I agree with you." Dick explained as he finished his report and put it in his outgoing tray, seeing that Amelia already left,"Let me punch out and I'm all yours."

Dick smiled at her as he ran to the locker room to punch out for his shift. He saw Kori sitting at his desk with the picture frame of his family and her, Jason's photo wedged between the frame and the glass taped down to secure it. She set it back down when he walked back to his desk, she wrapped an arm around his waist and slipped her hand down, coping a feel, as she smiled at him innocently. Dick noticed the girls from last night were glancing at Dick as he left with Kori who was telling him about what her and M'gann, Cassia, Zatanna. Barbara, Karen, Artemis, and Raquel were up to while he was taking the year off,"Barbara, Zatanna, Raquel and I compared notes."

Dick sat down on his motorcycle and looked at Kori confused,"About what?"

"You." Kori said as she sat down and wrapped her arms around him,"We've agreed that you are proficient, at the least."

Dick smiled as he started up the motorcycle,"Please keep stroking my ego. Please."

Kori just fell quiet and tightened her arms around Dick, ignoring his protests.


	6. Interlude 2

_**When the mom friend betas your story and you feel bad about what you're putting her through and you are trying to outline a story in your head. Not bad enough to stop torturing Jason totally but still bad**_

Jason really didn't like going to Gotham Academy, most of the teachers stopped comparing him to Dick when they realized he'd excel when he wasn't compared to Dick. When he was treated like another student, most of them still saw him as the troublemaker and Bruce Wayne's newest charity case. He preferred the private tutors he used to have, but Bruce said he need to learn how to socialize as a normal person and not just deal with kids who had secret identities. Jason looked at the photo of his mother, one of the older ones, before Willis started to hit harder and before she got sick, before Jason had started to steal regularly. Before he started to do anything for his mom, stealing, low level prostitution and having to protect his mom from her dealers even though according to Bruce, she was supposed to be protecting him. Jason looked at her photo and thought of the similarities in their face, his jaw was slightly stronger than hers, the messy black hair where his dad's was a dark brown, sharp high cheekbones, and a grin that suggest you were up to no good. When his mom smiled like that, it meant a special surprise, enough money to get a slice of cake or something sweet for the holidays or their birthdays.

" _Jasón, Jasón wake up." Catherine said shaking her son's small frame, smiling that up to no good grin,"Time to get up, Mijo."_

 _Jason woke up and stretched pulling on his too big red hoodie, he looked around the one room apartment and didn't see his father's hulking form,"Mama, donde esta Willis?"_

" _No se." Catherine said pulling her son close,"¿Quieres pastel tres leches?"_

 _Jason's eyes widened in disbelief,"Really?"_

 _Catherine brushed hair out of his face,"Yes, it's your birthday today, mijo. I've been saving up for a while. Come, we must hurry."_

 _Jason watched as his mother wrapped a light jacket around herself to cover up the marks on her elbow. And so she could have more than a pair of loose jeans and a t-shirt to keep out the cold,"Why?"_

 _Catherine tied her hair up and held out her hand for her son to grasp, as she locked the deadbolt and put the key in her pocket and and tapped her other pocket to make sure the money was still there. Jason noticed that her free arm was across herself like she was cold,"We need this ingredients for the cake."_

 _Jason felt his mom's hand shaking as they walked to the nearest grocery story in Park Row, he squeezed it tighter and smiled at her,"Don't worry, Mama. I'll protect you."_

 _Catherine gave a watery grin, while looking at the fresh bruise on his cheekbone,"I know, mijo. You always do."_

 _Jason paused for a second as his mom stumbled slightly, her breath caught in her throat,"Mama?"_

 _Catherine picked up her son placing him on her hip, as Jason wrapped his arms around her,"I'm okay, baby, just feeling tired."_

 _Jason tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice,"We don't need to get the stuff. I want to spend my birthday with you."_

 _Catherine squeezed her 4 year old tighter,"I know but we can't do things like this often so it's your birthday gift."_

" _Gracias, Mama."_

 _Catherine nearly didn't respond as she tried to figure out how to stretch the next paycheck to feed her and her son, Willis took most of it to pay off his loan shark and the new shoes she bought Jason took almost all of the remainder, she was lucky that she was being paid in the next couple days but if her shakes got any worse she wouldn't have a job to pay for her son's food,"De nada, baby."_

Jason shook his head and grabbed his Spanish textbook as one of the senior's in Artemis's class, slammed his locker door open and grabbed the only photo of his mother he had,"James, give it back!"

James held the photo just out of Jason's reach,"Aww, are you gonna cry?"

Jason could faintly hear Bruce and Dick say that if he asked for help they would come. The street rat who still held the majority of the logical part of his brain said that he was on his own like always, Jason stopped reaching for the photo, and tensed his back, his voice a growl,"I assure you, I won't be the one who ends up crying."

James stopped taunting the small freshman and glared down at him,"What you say?"

Jason raised an eyebrow,"You heard me."

James slammed his fist into the locker just by Jason's ear, Jason didn't flinch because he was used to the intimidation tacket used by Gotham's villains and his father when he was trying to get Jason to listen to him,"Listen hear you little brat."

Jason laughed in James's face causing the photo to be dropped as James lifted Jason closer to him by his tie, Jason struggled to grab the photo as he was sucker punched and dropped to the ground,"Heh, you hit like my mother."

James kicked him in stomach, repeatedly and Jason growled, and grabbed James's foot jerking him to the ground, James grabbed the photo and held it to stop Jason from coming after him. He waved the photo tauntingly as Jason made a swipe for it ignoring the pain in his ribs,"Come on, Freshie show me what you got."

Jason couldn't help but take the bait, trying to be mindful of his surrounding but was grabbed by one of James's buddies, and he jerked Jason's arm back behind him causing Jason to go closer to the stairs as he twisted away with a snap. James got closer and taunted Jason again causing, him to finally lose his temper and lunge at James. James scooted back and pushed Jason who was still slightly underweight despite being mainly muscle,"You know maybe I should give her a call, figure out why she abandoned you like your dad."

Jason screamed,"Shut up!"

James kept pressing the button that Jason left vulnerable,"You know, parents are supposed to love their kids unconditionally, so what's wrong with you?"

Jason lunged at him again,"I said SHUT THE HELL UP!"

James pushed Jason off and sideways causing him to smack his head on the railing and have his eyes roll backwards. James knew he was in big trouble when he saw Dick Grayson followed by Artemis Crock and Barbara Gordon. Barbra yanked the photo back as Dick yelled for someone to call 911 as him and Artemis tried to get Jason to respond. James began to back away from the scene and mutter,"I didn't mean to have him hit his head."

Artemis looked up from where she was and glared at him,"He's half your size James. Next time I wouldn't push the kid into snapping at you."

Dick got Jason to come to slightly as he mouthed something and then passed out again leaning into Artemis, Dick looked at Barbara who had the photo in her hand and made her way back to him with the paramedics as the teachers came out to see what was wrong. The English teacher, who Dick was convinced hated, him spoke first,"What happened here?"

Barbara spoke as Jason was picked up and lifted onto the stretcher and tailed by Artemis and Dick,"Dr. Smith, James took the photo of Jason's mom, that Jason had in his locker and James wouldn't give it back so him and Jason got into a fight."

Dr. Smith pursed her lips,"Who started the fight?"

James scoffed,"Todd did, lunged at me like the psychopath he is."

Bette Kane scoffed,"Please, you're pissed that it took you and Jackson to beat him up. Jason lunged only to get the photo of his mom back, James threw him down to the ground and started kicking him, it just happened to escalate from there."

Dr. Smith looked at James who was picking himself off the ground and Jackson who was trying to glare a hole into Bette and Barbara's heads,"Mr. Anderson, Mr. Williams, with me. All of you get to class. Miss Gordon, Miss Kane, if you'd like to go to the hospital with Mr. Grayson, Mr. Todd, and Miss Crock, you are welcome to and I will explain it to your teachers later. "

 _ **(Line break)**_

Dick paced in the ER's waiting room, waiting for Bruce to pick up the phone, Artemis began to thumb through the magazines as she gave up trying to get him to sit down and sit still for more than 12 seconds,"Pick up, Pick up, Pick up."

"Dick? Is everything okay?" Bruce asked knowing that Dick rarely called, preferring to text.

"Jason got into a fight at school." Dick said his voice picking up speed so Bruce couldn't cut him off,"He didn't really fight back so the other guys are fine but Jason landed in the hospital and they're not telling me anything since I'm not his legal guardian, can you come home please?"

Bruce said something to a person on his side of the phone call,"Yes, I just need to finish this one meeting and then I am on my way back to Gotham. Which hospital?"

Dick sighed in relief,"Mercy General, I'm here with Babs, Artemis and one of our other friends at school."

"Alfred and Selina will meet you there." Bruce said quickly before hanging up the phone.

Dick sank down into the seat and began bouncing his leg rapidly, and shifting in his seat, Barbara came back with a cup of coffee with Bette. Barbara handed Dick the photo as he smoothed it out and looked at it seeing that Jason looked more like his mother then his father, the photos DIck had seen of Willis Todd gave off a mean vibe while Catherine's "recent" photos had a sad vibe,"She pretty. Jason looks a lot like her."

Bette leaned over Barbara as Dick showed her the photo,"Wow, what happened to her?"

Dick, Artemis and Barbara looked at each other hesitantly,"She got sick after Jason's dad left them and so Jason ended up taking care of her until she died when he was 8."

Bette's eyes softened in pity,"Poor kid."

Dicj shrugged,"He's a tough little kid. He's going to get through it."

Barbara smacked his arm causing him to make a noise of shock,"He's in a hospital Dick, probably on pain meds."

Dick paled at the realization,"Selina and Alfred better get here soon. He's not going to be happy when he wakes up."

Selina and Alfred bust through the hospital doors, Selina's eyes flickered around the room before settling on Dick and racing toward him barely outpacing Alfred,"Dick, What the hell happened?"

Dick shrugged,"Some guy at school took the photo of Catherine out of Jason's locker, and Jason picked a fight with him."

Selina sank into the empty chair across from him,"Is he alright?"

Dick shrugged,"They won't tell me because I'm not his guardian."

Selina and Alfred looked at each other and Alfred spoke,"So we must wait until Master Bruce comes back from Chicago then."

Dick nodded and went back to vibrating in his seat causing Artemis to look over at him,"You're worse than Wally."

Barbara made an amused noise of agreement,"Combine Jason's metabolism and Dick's fidgeting you have Wally."

"Personality?"

Barbara shrugged,"He's too nice to be Jason, who cussed out Bruce. Too mature to be Dick."

"Hey!"

Barbara looked at him reprimandingly,"Really, do you want to play this game?"

Dick sunk into his seat slightly deflated,"No."

They all sat in a tense silence, only being broken by Dick shifting in his chair often while he waited for Bruce to show up. A petite girl in a flowered dress and a red cardigan ran through the waiting room and was met by one of the doctors. Bruce followed looking around for Dick, Selina and Alfred.

 _ **(Line break)**_

Jason woke up groggy and numb, with a faint beeping in the background, _"Do you know how much you cost me?" "Willis that is enough." "What did you just say?"_

Jason jerked awake and tried to press himself next to the edge of the bed, he felt his arm get tangled up in the IV and heard the heart monitors steady beeping pick up. The doctor came in followed by a small girl in a red cardigan and a flowered dress, she brushed some hair out of her face and tried to shoot Jason a reassuring smile causing Jason to scowl and glare at her.

The doctor spoke first,"I'm Dr. Bard, and this is Miss Hartin, a social worker."

Jason's eyes narrowed at her,"'Kay, that's nice but can I get the IV out?"

Dr. Bard grinned,"I can assure you, Mr. Todd, it's a saline and morphine to help you answer your pain."

Jason held out his arm,"I think I can handle the pain."

"Mr. Todd, as your doctor I advise against-" Dr. Bard began to protest.

"As your patient I understand that, but my mother was an addict. So either you remove it or I can." Jason said turning to face the doctor.

Miss Hartin cut them off,"Mr. Todd, I'm your new social worker. I've come to talk to you about your previous injuries."

Jason gave her a smug little grin,"You wanna find out if Bruce is beating me?"

Miss Hartin flushed at the implication,"No, I just want to see how your transition is going."

Jason coughed, causing Dr. Bard to look at him concerned in fear of jarring his ribs,"Sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit."

Miss Hartin tried to sooth Jason's "fears","No, not bullshit. You go from living on the street by yourself to living in Wayne Manor with a brother and a butler, and new parents. You also don't even go to a private school in the same district."

Jason pursed his lips,"I don't have new parents."

Miss Hartin sat on the edge off the bed causing Jason to move closer to the pillows, gasping as he moved the tube in his side,"But I am legally required to ask, has he ever hurt you?"

Jason laughed,"Nah, most of those injuries I got from Willis or living in Crime Alley. You can go now. Both of you. Unless you're going to remove my IV or turn off the morphine."

Dr. Bard didn't move,"I can't do anything without your guardian's permission."

Jason motioned to the door,"So go get him."

Dr. Bard left leaving Jason with Miss Hartin,"I need to talk to Mr. Wayne, before I leave."

Bruce walked into the hospital room followed by Dick, Selina and Alfred. The doctor was saying something to Bruce as Dick laid down next to Jason passing him the photo of his mother. Selina sat at the edge of the right side of the bed with Alfred on the left. Bruce smiled at Dr. Bard,"I don't see why Jason can't make his own decision. Even though it's a stupid one."

Jason stuck out his tongue,"I gave him an ultimatum. Stop the drugs or I yank out the IV."

Selena put her hand on Jason's knee,"Jason, are you being deliberately stubborn or do you really don't want it?"

Jason huffed,"I don't want to be on morphine."

Selina's green eyes settled on Jason's carefully,"I'm sure the doctor has something that isn't close to heroin."

Dick wrapped an arm around him,"Yes we must first beat your addiction to chili dogs."

Jason growled,"Oh fuck off, Dick."

Dr. Bard turned off the morphine drip and changed the bag of saline and put him on a codeine drip which Jason to slump into Dick the fight being taken out of him. Miss Hartin smiled at him and asked to talk to Bruce alone. Jason stared at the photo of his mom, as Artemis, Bette, and Barbara walked in. Jason muttered a thank you as Barbara and Dick switched places with Dick stretching out in one of the hospital chairs.

Jason fell back asleep a little while after Bruce came back slumping in the chair next to Dick.

 _Jason sat down next to the mattress on the floor seeing his mom asleep again, he looked at his bloodied knuckles,"Mama? I got more food for us. I didn't do anything super bad."_

 _His mom just laid in bed unresponsive, he saw the band on his mother's arm so he loosened it enough so blood flow could be restarted, he rubbed her forearm lightly trying to warm it up, he held her outstretched hand,"To get the food, Mama. I hurt someone today getting us the food."_

 _Jason's shoulders slumped, he saw his mom shivered slightly and he went to get up to shut the window but saw her still again. He tightened his grip on her hand,"I know you're not hungry right now, but you have to eat. Just a little bit. Please, mama. I know you're not hungry right now, but when you're better, when you're up."_

 _A cool breeze came through the apartment causing Jason's busted knuckles to sting and he wiped them on his pants,"Some man came out of the alley. He tried to take the food from me. From you. From us. I kept it though."_

 _Jason squeezed his eyes shut, his chest tightening,"I just got so angry, I couldn't think. I started hitting him over and over and over again. When I finally caught my breath, I saw the blood on my hands. I let him run away…. I mean, I think he's fine….but I didn't mean to do that…. I didn't want to."_

 _Jason started crying and all he wanted was for his mom to smile at him like it didn't pain her and like she wasn't about to cry. He wanted her to hug him and tell him that it would be alright, that falling just meant they had to get back up again,"Mama, am a bad person?"_

 _He felt utterly pathetic as his voice came out in shaky whimpers,"I wish you'd stop taking that stuff. I wish you could hear me….. I miss you."  
Jason laid down next to the mattress keeping his fingers on his mother's wrist so he could feel her slightly fluttering pulse even when he couldn't be sure of her breathing. The door was looked and had the heavy dining table pushed in front of it as protection and no one really climbed the rusted out fire escape anymore. As Jason was falling asleep he imagined a hand ghosting through his hair and a soft, caring voice calling him mijo._


	7. Chapter 7

_**I proofed the last chapter at 2 in the morning so I'm sorry for my spelling mistakes. I'm skipping around a few months because a lot of this story would be repetitive imo but pm me if you'd like a chapter like that. I'm also willing to have a discussion on why Jason became the Arkham Knight while working for The Light, if you'd like.**_

Dick sat in his apartment, Jason had been missing for almost two months since he revealed himself to Dick, 3 months since he last made contact with Arsenal and they were still no closer to finding him. Arsenal remained easy to contact in case of any leads or dead ends becoming apparent on his end or on the Justice League's.

It wasn't hard for to see that Roy and Jason had a partnership that they didn't want to acknowledge to anyone but themselves. Barbara had finally cracked into Jason's personal laptop and saw that he had full access to the League database, using the second Blue Beetle's, Tula's and his own accounts, Wally's file had notes of energy reading connected to it and Artemis's file had sealed attachments dated from her "death" to the fall of The Light. It was slightly rushed but methodical notes none the less. It tracked her meetings with The Light and her alias as Tigress. Dick could tell Jason wrote them with the snarky comments written into them, _"Guess you take after your sister more than previously thought." "Costume looks like based off Huntress but I dressed as a bat to fuck with the B man when he wasn't even on Earth, so who am I to judge?"_

Roy's comments were usually responses to Jason's or comments about her interactions with The Light, _"Jade's got a kid with my clone, and would that make me a dad?" "The knight is impressive but it's terrifying. I worry about you."_

Dick thought about his previous interactions with The Light, remembering seeing a robot? that looked like a twisted form of Batman, instead of a bat on the chest it was an Arkham diamond. The voice was gravely, robotic but the way he spoke he spoke like a teenager, a kid who was in a game he was a little too good at playing.

Dick began to look through The Light's database and found the "Batman", " _Arkham Knight under the control of Talia Al Ghul. Can be comparable to Batman, L-2 has been quiet on his background. Will not work with Joker of the Injustice League. Prone to reacting in anger when lied to and when the Batman or Joker are brought up."_

Dick reread the little blurb, most of The Light's files had been updated with what The Light members had learned with working with each other where slightly more expansive than a post-it's worth of information, which made Dick question whether or not if it was Jason, too perceptive, too empathetic for his own good. _"Maybe I get my revenge and kill the Bat for not avenging me."_ Dick thought remembering what Jason said in his video. How jaded he sounded, as if the world finally caught up to everything he already knew. Dick knew that Bruce was only a few seconds late but Jason probably didn't know that, he constantly waited for the other shoe to drop and when it did it dropped hard, and Jason's life got harder.

"Little Wing, why didn't you just come home." Dick felt tugging on his pant leg and looked down seeing his pet larvae, chewing or pulling on his pant leg showing that he wanted to have attention paid to him, Dick extended his leg allowing Silkie to climb up onto his lap and see what he was doing, "You ate 10 minutes ago. I'm not feeding you again."

Silkie made a cranky noise and proceeded to stare at the screen as Dick began scrolling through the Red Hood files for the fifth time that week, "Good thing being on sabbatical from the team. More nonexistent free time."

Dick watched the Red hood, Jason, fight. Simply, with brutal efficiency, minimal output with maximum results. If you knew what to look for you could see his Robin training in the way he would land, the way he would stop to taunt whatever thug he was beating, killing, technically. He made use of working without gadgets so he wouldn't become dependent on them. It was effective, and Dick couldn't help but compare him to Cheshire. He ran the videos of the Hood and the Knight fighting in the League's database to figure out who trained Jason. He found the matches in street fighting, the League of Shadows and the old robin training, but that didn't explain all his skills, that didn't explain the gold swords he had to cut himself to use, "Jay, what happened to you?"

Dick's phone buzzed loudly on the desk causing Silkie to hop out of his lap indignantly,"Puke in my shoes and I will send you to live with Connor."

Dick saw that Barbara was calling him and he answered it, waving to Kori as she entered the "office","Hey Babs, what's up?"

Kori pulled up an extra chair and sat next to Dick, seeing what he was doing as Silkie hopped into her lap, and began to purr as she coddled him. Barbara was silent and Dick spoke again his voice betraying his uneasiness, "Barbara? You there?"

Dick heard typing on the laptop,"Your computer's on. You need to sit down."

Bruce's voice came through before Dick had a chance to answer as Barbara began to mess with his computer from her Clock tower, "It's about Jason, Joker sent a video."

"Do we know where he is?" Dick asked a knot forming in his stomach.

"NO the video was mailed to the GCPD, left at their door practically. There are still no new leads with Jason." Bruce said as Barbra pulled up a video of Jason sitting in a chair shirtless and cut up, his right ankle in a makeshift splint and his arms bound to the chair, his head was dropped and you could tell the recentness of the video by the length of Jason's hair. The video started with Harley gripping Jason's black curly hair and showing his face to the camera revealing that it was Jason, a beaten bloody Jason, but Jason none the less, blue green eyes glared at whoever was recording from behind a red domino mask.

" _Come on, Hoodie, say hi to Batsy." Joker said as he put the camera in Jason's face. Jason tried to jerk his head away but was held fast by Harley causing him to clench his teeth and force air out of his mouth,"Aw, nothing nice to say? You were so chatty earlier."_

 _Jason jerked his head out from Quinn's grip and spat out on the floor, his voice was slightly ragged,"Hey Joker, I got, uh, I got a message for you."_

 _Jason leaned forward as Joker stepped closer to him to hear what he said, the video began to tilt as Joker leaned down catching the back of Jason's head as he proceed to throw up all over the Joker's shoes. Harley made a disgusted noise and stepped back, "Well that was rude."_

 _Jason grinned up at the camera, a shit stirring mischievous grin, he laughed, "I thought it was pretty funny."_

Dick couldn't help the cheer that escaped him, "That my boy."

Bruce's voice was flat and emotionless, like always, "Keep watching."

 _The joker still held the camera but two of his goons came into view as Harley snapped the barbed wire off of him with wire cutters, "Come on, boys. Pick him up. Let see if he keeps the humor after my newest little surprise for him."_

 _Jason's grin faltered slightly as he struggled between the two goons, the one that held his legs grabbed his right ankle and squeezed earning a scream and sharp curses in Spanish from the vigilante, "You remember this don't you Hoodie? I mean, you spent some time in one after our last encounter."_

 _Jason paled and started struggling harder as a steel coffin with tubing all around it came into his view Harley helped open the lid with one of the other thug, Jason was shoved into the coffin, while trying to bite, kick or punch his way out the goons grip, he started to wail and scream in panic the closer he got to the coffin. His bare back touched the cool metal as the lid was shut and the last clear sound heard from him was him screaming, "Dad!"_

 _The Joker motioned for Harley to twist one of the valves and an orange gas began to enter the coffin and Jason's screams somehow got louder. Harley locked the coffin so Jason couldn't get out of it, but the coffin would shake slightly on occasion._

" _See Bats, I'm not the only one who wants our dearest Robin dead, or close to it at least." Joker said before turning the camera on to Harley who was randomly smacking the steel coffin in places so she wouldn't accidently knock out the tubing, "And don't try to find where I got the coffin, couple of friends made it for me free of charge."_

Dick sat there pale, his hands shaking, "Bruce, that was fear gas. He's making himself relive pulling himself out of the coffin. Bruce, we need to find him.

Bruce's voice was sharp causing Dick to flinch, "Where do you suggest we look?"

Dick looked at the computer screen hopelessly, "I don't know. Fear toxin, maybe Crane. Harley is smart but she isn't able to recreate Scarecrow's formula. Joker maybe because of his laughing gas but I doubt Crane would part with the recipe."

 _ **(Until Dick asks to enter the room assume Jason is speaking Spanish. Catherine is actually Jason's mother, not Shelia)**_

 _Dick didn't mean to compare mothers but he saw the photo that Jason put in the frame by his bed and how he'd talk to it after patrols, in Spanish. The photo contained a young woman no older than 19-20 with a mischievous grin on her face and dark brown eyes that glittered with happiness. When a patrol went especially bad or Bruce came down a little too hard Dick could hear Jason's voice talking to the picture, his Spanish was rusty but he understood the general meaning, "Would you be proud of me? I'd like to think you would be. Bruce is mad at me again, but I'm trying, do you think he sees that? He hasn't hurt me yet, even though I've given him reason too."_

 _Dick nearly hit the wall in frustration but didn't so he could continue to hear Jason speak, "I think I'm sick like you or getting there. But life is good I have a family, Mami, what's wrong with me?"_

 _Jason let out a wet laugh, "If you were lucid enough, you'd whisper that nothing was wrong with me. Bruce's has got a girlfriend, a cat burglar from Park Row. She's Cuban. It's nice being able to speak Spanish to someone I trust again. I miss you, Mami. I love you."_

 _Dick knocked on the door and stood outside,"Jason, can I come in?"_

 _There was some shifting and Jason opened the door a crack showing messy wild hair and slightly red rimmed eyes,"Is everything okay?"_

 _Dick shrugged,"Just wanted to hang out after Patrol."_

 _Jason opened the door wider and went back to the bed sitting up near the headboard, Dick decided to sit close to the footboard giving Jason his space, he looked for something to break the ice as Jason desperately tried to look like he wasn't crying, he pointed to the photo next to Jason,"That your mom?"_

 _Jason nodded, his voice suspicious,"Why?"_

 _Dick shrugged,"Don't know much about your life before you came to live with us. What was she like?"_

 _Jason looked at him for any sign of deception so Dick kept an earnest smile on his face,"She did her best. She had me when she was still in high school and married my father. She was a good person that was dealt shitty choices. Her criminal record has willful neglect but that was when she'd make me leave when Willis began to hit to hard. I stopped leaving so I could try to protect her."_

" _How old were you?"_

" _3\. My mom spoke conversational English. She worked as a waitress till she was fired. We lived in a one room apartment with candles for warmth around a mattress on the floor. I'd sleep on the table so I could protect her from dealers. She wasn't a bad person, she was sick."_

 _Dick crossed his legs and leaned forward showing he was still invested in Jason's story, Jason continued wrapping his arms around himself,"I remember when we'd share the mattress if she was lucid enough to know I was on it with her she'd wrap her arms around me protectively. She couldn't protect me from Willis but she'd try to protect me from my head. She was a good person, she deserves this more than I do. My mom did bad things for me so I wouldn't die of starvation but she got so sick and her addiction, her way of coping took her away from me."_

 _Dick nodded in understanding,"I think she'd be proud of you, Little Wing, you help those that can't help themselves."_

 _Jason turned pink at that,"Prolly chew me out for doing stupid stuff like traveling back to Venezuela with Bruce, even though I was safe. Smack me with a chancla."_

 _Dick looked confused,"Your mom was an immigrant?"_

 _Jason nodded,"Came to America when she was 13, hoped going by Catherine she'd make friends easier, learning English faster. What about your mom?"_

 _Dick shrugged,"Like most moms, sweet, gentle. Yelled at me when she thought I was going to get crushed by Zitka. Allowed me to help in my family's act. Would sing me Romani lullabies when I was sick. She was my mom, I was too young to see her as anything else as perfect before my family died."_

 _Jason coughed awkwardly,"How old were you?"_

" _9\. Someone sabotaged the trapeze rope. You?"_

" _6, when Willis left. 8 when my mom ODed." Jason said absently scratching the crook of his elbow," Lived on the streets since."_

 _Jason didn't move closer but had his leg extended out to Dick and he put his hand on Jason's ankle lightly before tracing reassuring circles on it,"Well hey, I'm here for you, Little Wing, I'll protect as best I can."_

 _Jason smiled softly as Dick collapsed on the bed and fell asleep. Jason put his legs over Dick's and fell asleep, feeling his muscles decompress._

 _ **(Oh Dicky, how I love to torture)**_

Dick looked at Scarecrow's chem lab, his cowl activating allowing him to see how many hired goons he had milling around him protectively as he worked. He glanced up as Arsenal landed next to him narrowing his eyes as he looked through the window,"I take it you've seen the video, Roy?"

"Oracle sent it to me. Jason's still the ballsiest bastard I've ever met, Joker won't break him." Arsenal said trying to alleviate Dick's fears,"we've been in worse positions."

"He was put in a coffin, Roy." Dick said sounding miserable.

"Joker isn't going to kill him yet. Cheshire might know something, her and Jason used to run together when he was training with the Shadows." Roy replied, he leaned forward when Black Mask entered followed by a few bodyguards. Arsenal felt silent after this listening to Scarecrow and Black Mask converse.

Arsenal hissed when Bart showed up on the roof, and Dick pulled him down so he wouldn't be spotted,"What are you two doing?"

Roy shushed him,"Listen, motor mouth."

" _How did the first batch go, Roman?"_

" _Well, from what Harleen has told me, says it's one of your best versions yet. The Hood was passed out in the coffin when I stopped by. That brat has been a thorn in my side ever since that damned invasion, I want his head on my wall."_

 _Crane held up a hand, stopping Roman's Hood induced rant,"Enough, Roman. Remember your place in this affair. I assure you, you will have your chance to collect your pound of flesh."_

 _Roman snarled at Crane causing him to look up unimpressed,"When?!"_

" _Whenever the Joker says. He's the Joker's prisoner, what he says are the rules. Why bring down the Hood when you can make all the bats suffer as well?"_

Dick punched the roof in frustration,"Damn it."

Roy put a hand on Dick's shoulder awkwardly, not knowing how it would be received, knowing Jason wasn't the most touchy feely person but Dick seemed more inclined to physical comforting then suggesting taking out his frustrations on the henchmen,"Kid, maybe you should go home."

Bart shook his head,"No, I'm helping. There's too many to take by yourself."

Nightwing nodded,"You listen to me and Arsenal. No complaints."

Arsenal tossed Kid Flash a rebreather,"Just in case."

KF put it in his empty compartment that was usually filled with food,"Yes sir."

Nightwing looked at Arsenal as he prepared his grappling hook and Arsenal prepared his grapple arrow,"KF, you enter from the double doors on the south side. Ready, 3, 2, 1."

Nightwing and Arsenal burst in through the windows quickly dispatching the thugs closest to them. Arsenal was keeping away from lethal shots and trying to stick to his trick arrows as often as possible. Nightwing was going to town on 3 thugs beating them with his escrima sticks, occasionally tasing them before they went down. Kid Flash was knocking the thugs off balance and into Arsenal and Nightwing's reach, Nightwing grabbed Black Mask and chained him to the table while Arsenal slammed Scarecrow on the table,"Where's the Red Hood?"

"You won't kill me."

Arsenal let out a bark of laughter,"Not this time, maim, however, I am free to maim."

Arsenal pulled out a lethal arrow and began to aim it toward Scarecrow's optic nerve,"Now every second you keep me waiting I'm going to slide this farther into your optic nerve. Now are you really confident in your ability to make fear toxin half blind?"

Arsenal started to shove the arrow into Scarecrow's eye, causing him to scream,"Wai! Wait! I don't know where he is. Joker, messages us when we're supposed to meet up. I dropped off the last batch of gas in Amusement Mile. I don't know anything else, I swear!"

Arsenal pulled out the arrow and knocked out Scarecrow before wiping it off on his pant leg and turned to Black Mask, as Nightwing tied up Scarecrow and Bart tied up the thugs. Arsenal put the arrow up to Black Mask's carotid artery,"Now you said you visited one of my favorite vigilantes, where is he?"

Black Mask glared at him,"I don't know."

Arsenal dug the arrow into his neck until he saw red rivulets run down his neck,"You sure about that?"

BLack Mask fell silent as Nightwing handed Arsenal an Escrima stick,"Don't kill him."

Arsenal grinned ferally,"Won't need to."

Arsenal stabbed the escrima stick into Black Mask's stomach causing his body to seize, Nightwing walked away to KF looking pale. Black Mask didn't speak so Arsenal began to hit him with the escrima stick, occasionally tasing him, Mask finally held up his hand,"I don't know where he's being held now. Last time I saw him was a week ago, passed out in the steel coffin in the basement of the Krank co. Toys."

Arsenal smiled at him, and knocked him unconscious with a sharp strike with the stick"Thank you, so very much."

Nightwing was leaning against the table, looking paler than snow, especially in contrast of the black and blue suit, he cleared his throat,"KF, can you call the cominshinor?"

Kid Flash nodded and began to drop the anonymous tip as he bolted back to the roof, Nightwing raised his grapple gun to get back onto the roof but his hand was shaking too bad to aim properly. Nightwing nearly sank to his knees as Arsenal out his arms around Nightwing and shot the grapple gun, and pulled them to the roof. Arsenal let Nightwing down, and he sank to his knees, curling up slightly,"Roy, what if he's dead?"

Roy shook his head and sat down next Dick as Bart joined them quietly,"It's Jason. It took an explosion to kill him last time and even then that shit didn't stick. I'll keep looking for him. I've got a safe house in Park Row. We'll hole up there until you feel better."

Dick nodded and slowly pulled himself to his feet,"Thanks, Roy."

Roy smiled awkwardly,"Anytime lightweight."

Bart looked confused,"Lightweight?"

Roy shrugged,"Dick, you weigh what? 170? 175?"

Dick nodded in agreement,"About 175."

"Jaybird has got you beat by a good 50 pounds, got himself built like a brick shithouse." Roy said laughing slightly,"We got into a bar fight and this frat douche tried to punch him into submission, got him once in the chest, and Jason threw him through a table."

Dick waved it off,"That's nothing. So Jason and I were sparring back when he was Robin and we were both working so it was just a way to kill some time. Two of Penguin's goons go to jump us and he grabbed my arm and flung me into them. He had gadgets, but no he choose to use his big brother. I dislocated my shoulder."

Bart looked between the two of them,"Jason sounds really crash."

Roy nodded in agreement,"You'll meet him soon enough."

They walked in silence till they came upon a run-down set of apartments in Park Row, Roy was first up the fire escape followed by Bart and Nightwing brought up the rear. Roy jimmied the window open and landed on the floor turning off the silent alarm before shutting the window and turning it back on again. Dick dropped onto one of the two mattresses on the floor as Roy grabbed a bunch of MREs tossing Dick the chicken with egg noodles and vegetables, Bart got a couple of packs of beef stew, and Roy passed out water bottles so they could heat them up, Roy began to prepare the chili and macaroni. Bart looked at the meal impatiently as Dick got comfortable so he could crash when he finished his meal. Roy discarded his quiver and weapons, rubbing his upper arm.

Dick spoke breaking the food induced silence,"Was this Catherine's apartment?"

Roy looked up from his spoonful of chili,"You know about Catherine?"

"Yeah, one night after patrols I heard him talking to her picture and we started to talk about each other's moms. He was only a little younger then I was when his mom died but he lost her before that."

Bart looked between them detecting the heavy tension that the woman, Catherine, brought up,"Who was she?"

Roy spoke as he tossed the trash into an empty box,"Jason's mom, bad mom, good person. The two of you should get some sleep, I'll take watch."

Dick nodded and tossed his trash into the makeshift bin, before laying down draping an arm over his face,"Got it, thanks, Roy."

Bart curled up on the extra mattress and fell asleep almost immediately. Roy moved to a corner of the room so he could watch the doorway and the window as the kids got some sleep. Yeah, Nightwing was older than him but so was Jason but Jason was still just a kid and he had trouble seeing Nightwing as anything but even though Nightwing was the most experienced on the team.


	8. Interlude 3

Jason still remembered his mom's face, even if he had trouble remembering her voice. His dad he remembered a little too well. He remembers reading that brains were negatively biased, maybe that's why he struggled to remember good memories, not that he didn't have an all bad childhood, but how his brain was wired. He wasn't misremembering but bad feelings just stuck better than the good ones. Maybe he could trick himself into thinking that's why he came to Venezuela, for his mom, not for hunting down LexCorp warehouses after the invasion. His audio transmitters caught something from the warehouse he was watching, LexCorp was reselling Reach. He couldn't stomach them, the lack of sugar he had growing up before and after the Bat, meant cravings for sweets that could be staved off with baked goods, but sugary drinks like Reach made him feel lazy and sick to his stomach. Let him shell out the 20 cents more for water than that crap.

The voice couldn't have been much older than 15 or 16,"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me right now."

Jason dropped through the glass ceiling, shooting two of the guards in the chest,"Nope. Today's your lucky day."

The teenager had close cropped hair and a mechanical arm, and shot two more of the guards in the knee,"Really? Wonder what kinda fucked life I lead."

Jason chuckled darkly before sliding to some vats of Reach,"Don't quit your day job, kid. Cover me."

The teenager protested but covered him anyway,"You can't show up stealing my gig."

"Didn't see a gig to steal. Saw some poor cabrón n in over his head." Jason said hooking the C4 onto the vats and activating them, he bolted back to the teenager and motioned for him to follow as he set up his grapple gun,"Time to go kid."

The teenager's eyes widened,"what'd you do?"

"Rigged it to blow in like 2 minutes. Now, let's go." Jason said impatiently. The teenager shot a grappling hook out of his arm, and followed Jason out of the warehouse. Jason jumped to the ground and began to bolt to the alley where he stashed his crap, his "safe" house, the C4 went off blowing up the warehouse and all of its Reach. Jason's armor made him impervious from the blast but not the shockwave that knocked him down. Jason looked back and saw the teenager, unconscious with some shrapnel to his upper arm,"...Damn it."

Jason picked up the unconscious teenager and slung him over his shoulder and began to head back to the craphole he was calling a home. He left the kid's mask on when he got back to the hovel and began to work on removing the shrapnel, he didn't have any proper disinfectant so he made salt water and washed the wound out and began to stitch the kid up. HIs stitch job wasn't as good as Alfred's but the kid would heal better than if Dick did it. Jason sat back on the floor and removed his mask to perform its typical maintenance and make sure it wasn't damaged beyond repair because he really didn't want to hunt down the parts for his mask again. He saw that there wasn't any damage to it so he put his mask back on to make sure the inside of the mask, the most important part was still working. The audio transmitter came loose which wasn't a huge deal but it just meant a slight crackling, until he fixed it. Jason grabbed the tools and took the mask off his head and began to readjust the left transmitter until it clicked back into its original position. Jason slid the mask back on and turned back to the teenager so he could watch over him. The teenager began to shift and grabbed his shoulder at the over the gauze. His eyes went around the room carefully before settling on Jason sitting perfectly still. The kid moved to stand up and groaned in pain when he put pressure on his right ankle,"What the hell happened?"

Jason stretched out his legs,"LexCorp warehouse, explosion. Shitty planning on your behalf."

"You do not get to blame me." The teenager said taking off his mask in frustration.,"I was handling it."

Jason removed his mask, so the teenager could truly see the unimpressed look on his face,"Clearly. Jason Todd. You must be the original Roy Harper. I knew your clone."

Roy rubbed his upper arm,"How so?"

Jason sighed,"You worked with Justice League Jr?"

"Yeah, during the invasion worked with my clone." Roy said.

"So you met my brothers than?" Jason asked his voice cold,"Nightwing and my _replacement_?"

"You're the Robin in the memorial grove." Roy said realization occurring,"You're supposed to be dead."

"I got better. Talia Al Ghul dropped me in one of her dad's Lazarus Pits. She wanted to do her beloved a favor and she trained me so I worked for The Light, but now I'm a free agent, setting about my revenge meeting with dear old Daddy Bats and Joker. If he won't avenge me, I'll avenge myself."

"Do you revenge or satisfaction?" Roy asked as Jason stood up and began to look out the window.

Jason was silent for a moment before he looked back at Roy,"Why can't they be the same thing?"

Roy joined him at the window,"I like the way you think."

"Oh this will be the start of a wonderful partnership." Jason offering a hand,"Red Hood."

Roy shook the hand,"Arsenal. What's our next move?"

"There are still Reach factories in America and maybe I should visit Gotham, check in on the family. Be a good son." Jason said smiling evilly,"You know kid stuff."

"Isn't that just our life? Insignificant kid stuff." Roy said as Jason began to pack up his stuff.

Jason paused as he was shoving his red helmet into his bag,"Bright side. We won't be bored."

Roy looked at Jason, a 16? year old kid,"You're an optimistic little shit aren't you?"

"Is that any way to treat your elder?"

Roy sputtered,"I'm older than you."

"Chronologically speaking. But you've been frozen for 8 year, so ha." Jason said slinging his duffle over his shoulder. He changed out of his body armor and sighed sliding on a soccer sweater on,"You come with just your happy self?"

Roy didn't answer but glared at Jason causing him to laugh and begin to walk out of the apartment.


End file.
